"Some questioned (the suspension) because the Social Affairs regulation stated there must be first, second, and third warning issuance before the final sanction. I said it depends on the case. If (they) have only leaped over the fence or opened the door, we can give them a warning; but if they are already running with their loot, how can we still warn them?" Effendy remarked at the Presidential Palace Complex here on Monday.
ACT's authorization was revoked on July 5, 2022, while Effendy was serving as the ad-interim social affairs minister.
"If we warn them first, they will run faster. That is why when I (served as) the ad-interim minister, I decided to revoke the authorization on that day," the minister explained.
He clarified that the government did not disband the organization and only revoked its funds and goods collection authorization.
"We are not disbanding ACT because the authority to disband ACT is with the Law and Human Rights Ministry; we revoked only the organization's funds and goods collection authorization for social assistance purposes," Effendy said.
ACT violated the government’s regulation authorizing organizations collecting funds and goods for philanthropic purposes to utilize only up to 10 percent of the funds and goods collected for operational purposes, he clarified.
"The organization has admitted that instead of 10 percent, they had drawn 13.6 percent from the collected funds for their operational funds. Further investigation of the directorate general revealed that the actual number might be higher," the coordinating minister expounded.
ACT also violated the regulation prohibiting philanthropic organizations from drawing operational funds from funds and goods collection intended for disaster relief purposes, he added.
Earlier, the Police Criminal Investigation Agency's Special Economic Crime Directorate named four individuals linked to Aksi Cepat Tanggap as suspects for money laundering and embezzlement during their tenure with the philanthropic organization.
The ACT executives who were named as suspects were founder and former president Ahyudin, along with Ibnu Khajar, who was also an active president.
The two other suspects were Hariyana Hermain, who was one of the older members of ACT and had held other high positions in the organization, including in the management of its finances, while the fourth was Novariandi Imam Akbari, who was chairman of the ACT’s board of trustees.
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Translator: Desca Lidya N, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Sri Haryati
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